] BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and President
] Bush (news - web sites) have declared that Iraq (news -
] web sites) is on the road to stability, with the Iraqi
] leader saying elections would be possible in all but
] three or four of Iraq's 18 provinces. But the map of Iraq
] is scarred with violence every day. The capital is
] wracked by kidnappings and bombings. And September is
] shaping up as one of the deadliest months for American
] soldiers.
]
] Westerners are fleeing Iraq with reconstruction projects
] half-finished. Town markets sell grisly videos of
] beheadings. And U.S. troops grapple with an increasingly
] potent insurgency that appears to have little problem
] recruiting fighters.

This is one of the best articles I've seen covering the problems in Iraq, and even bringing up some good developments.

] The crumbling Iraqi capital - home to a quarter of
] the country's population - is so dangerous that even
] the location of the U.S. Embassy is kept secret.
]
]
] Open warfare has broken out a few blocks from the
] U.S.-controlled Green Zone, which is regularly pounded by
] insurgent mortar shells.

Mission Accomplished my ass.

] Recent surveys raise questions about Bush's assertion
] that only "a handful" of people are actively involved in
] the insurgency.
]
]
] A report issued Friday by the Washington-based Center for
] Strategic and International Studies cited a poll showing
] a third of Iraqi Sunnis and 11 percent of Shiites support
] attacks on multinational forces.
]
]
] "Violence is going up and Iraqi support for the U.S.
] presence is going down," said James Dobbins, a former
] Bush administration special envoy to Afghanistan and
] now a military analyst for the RAND Corp.
] "If we can't protect the population, we can't secure its
] trust and support."

[ Bush lives in a fantasy world. Or, at least, he's trying to sell that fantasy world to the American public. -k]